For An Inner Change

      

By Yuan Changming

I, Contingency You can certainly put your mind (or soul) Into a gold Maytag, but first you’d better Empty the pockets, since coins or keys Left in them might damage the machine You can certainly wash it really clean if You use warm water, the right detergent and Wash it twice, or even three times. As for the Stains, there are all kinds of powerful agents You can certainly dry it in a machine or Better to hang it outside on a clear day Let the sunshine do the job, let nature Take care of it before you put it on again Consciousness Determines Existence It is not the consciousness of men that Determines their existence, Marx says But their social existence that determines Their consciousness. However, the opposite May prove true, since once you change Your way of thinking, or your frame of mind You will live a different life, which will By logical extension, change your whole Social existence, just as a single drop of dye Changes the color of a large body of water Accumulated within your inner space Choice Is More Significant Than Effort If, if only we chose To see, to hear To smell, to touch And to taste what is good True or beautiful, how Desirable a human life Would be worth living Alas, we might never hope to do so But we can at least try, and in trying We will elevate our inner being To a high frequency which will Resonate with an equally high living Or did you? To Change Yourself Is to Change the Whole World You know little, you know nothing About quantum entanglement? Don’t feel ignorant. Me either But listen: once you’ve changed Your own inner being, you will Be better off, and once your self is Better off, so will your family; so will Your neighborhood; your village or city Your homeland; your (and our) Whole world. The same is true With quantum physics, exactly As in human society Inner Cosmesis We spend tones of effort, time and money To take care of our outer looks, but little On our inner being. Is this because nobody can See it, or because everyone is happy about it? Oh, me for one, how I wish To improve both the appearance And essence of my selfhood Not with cosmetics But with surgery Yuan Changming started to learn English at age 19 and published monographs on translation before leaving China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and hosts Happy Yangsheng in Vancouver; credits include ten Pushcart & three Best of the Net nominations, Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Threepenny Review and 1,409 others across 41 countries. poetrypacific.blogspot.ca happyyangsheng.blogspot.ca Image & License: Depositphotos_32738103_s-2015